The slight ex-Newcastle winger made just 31 appearances for United, but made a lasting impression with supporters - and predicts good times ahead

Tony Green, a Newcastle United legend established in the blink of an eye, is about to begin his 39th year as a forecaster on the Pools Panel.

A superlative will o’the wisp, Green only played 31 league games in United garb – 39 in all competitions – before injury cut him to the bone but such was his skill, quickness of mind and body he has somehow contrived to be placed alongside the great legends of a historic club who have all served a considerable number of years to bolster their reputation.

Now Tony and two other footballing legends – England World Cup winners Gordon Banks and Roger Hunt – meet in Liverpool every Saturday to forecast the scores of that weekend which can result in thee and me becoming instant millionaires.

As a consequence of being billed as a so-called expert in predicting what is going to happen, I asked Green to cast his eye over his old club Newcastle for the upcoming season.

What of the half dozen and more new signings?

What of United’s capability to score goals? What dare long-suffering fans with whom he has a special affinity expect this coming campaign?

Tony struggled openly between a desired optimism and stark reality.

He told me: “With all but Jack Colback being foreign signings it is difficult to know exactly what impact each one is going to have.

“We dream and we hope. We can see light but will it work. Right now I would accept a midtable finish.

“Anywhere from six to 10 would be smashing.

“All Newcastle fans including me know is we are not going to compete with Manchester City, Man United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Arsenal.

“They are way ahead of us. They buy in a different market to us.

“We have to be in there competing with Spurs and Everton, tough as that is going to be.

“We will learn more very quickly in the games after Sunday’s opener against the champions.

“All are potentially winnable so we will learn how the half -dozen new signings settle in, how they take to the most competitive of leagues, how they adapt. This is not France or Holland. This is a competition of pace, power and great depth. They do not have depth. England has.”

What I find fascinating is the Newcastle engine room where Tony Green once excelled as did another lightly-built performer of grace Terry Hibbitt.

Just as Joe Harvey loved a tiny tot in his Newcastle team as a player (Ernie Taylor) he revelled in the stunning ability of Hibby and Green.

However, those of slight physical stature in a power-packed modern game have to be truly exceptional to dictate the ebb and flo.

Ian Horrocks/Getty Images

Remy Cabella

Remy Cabella, a man no taller than a stalk of wheat and no more robust in a high wind, has been selected to be Newcastle’s playmaker.

Can he walk the same ground where YaYa Toure roams free and once Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira bit legs?

“Players are now four to five niches bigger than they were in my time,” admitted Green, who stood 5ft 7in in his stockinged feet.

“Five foot 10 inches is now small, six foot is for a goalkeeper, but we had Billy Bremner, Bobby Collins, Johnny Giles and Alan Ball striding midfield. They could bite in the tackle as well as play.

“I was not so physical but I was nippy and I could get away from those who were.

“I was not intimidated. I never felt small. When I was a kid in Glasgow I played with my two older brothers. At 10 I was in the under-13s, at 11 the under-14s and so on.

“I was finished at the age of 25 by a tackle from Crystal Palace’s Mel Blyth but I honestly think it was an accident, not malicious.

“He did not mean it. I was just off balance and he caught me.

“I was fouled a lot worse by Chopper Harris before the Blyth incident. I hated Harris for that.

“Nowadays I would have been out for a month to five weeks because I would have been in hospital the next day.

“However, in the seventies I was in a splint for six weeks running up and down the St James’ Park terraces and was then allocated a general surgeon, the club vice-chairman Bob Rutherford, instead of an orthopedic surgeon. Imagine that!

“No, Cabella might be small and slight but so was Luka Modric and he was a quality player who could dominate games in the Premier League. I can tell Cabella one thing. If he wins over the Newcastle fans he is made for life.

Honestly, I am staggered the way I am received when I go up to Newcastle after 40-odd years having played so few a number of games. Staggered but mightily proud and humbled. Remy will not yet fully realise the opportunity he has been handed.”

Casting an expert eye over the wider picture Green added: “It is hard to form an instant opinion about a player I don’t know. In my time every new signing was already playing over here and we all knew what they brought to the table.

“However, only Jack Colback is a known quantity. The rest have to bridge that gap. I guess the Ajax lad (Siem de Jong) will do well because Ajax produce players who are technically superb but we will all be watching the rest with interest.

“United desperately need a natural goalscorer.

“Perhaps Manu Riviere will turn out to be one – he looks quick with good movement.

“We had SuperMac who was dynamite. At Newcastle he ran like the wind and finished with bullet shots. He was so strong he was worth a packet of goals

“By his latter years at Arsenal injuries had robbed him of a yard of pace but he was still lethal round the box. However we had him in his pomp and he could get the crowd on their feet. The Geordies love flamboyant players.”

When the new PL season opens this weekend Green will as usual be sitting alongside Banks and Hunt forecasting every single match on the pools even though the chances of an Arctic storm hitting Britain in mid-August is as likely as Mike Ashley signing a player for a world record fee (remember when we got Shearer that way?)

Green smiled: “I am in my 39th year on the Pools Panel, Hunt is doing his 40th, and Banksie his 27th.

“We are a team which never changes. I havee spent the same number of years forecasting results as I played games for Newcastle. Amazing, isn’t it?

“I always want United to win because I love the club and its fans, though I cannot forecast they will win all 38 PL matches in a season, can I?”

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